Socialist Alliance response to REDWatch questionnaire

By Pip Hinman, Socialist Alliance candidate for Marrickville

The
Socialist Alliance completely opposes the trend by all state governments to
remove major development projects from regulation and scrutiny by local
government and other regularity authorities charged with protecting community
and environmental interests. This has been a device to advance the
privatization and corporate profits-first agenda against the interest of the
community and the environment.

The Redfern
Waterloo Authority (RWA) is one instance of this negative trend and therefore
we oppose the formation of the RWA, the purposes for which it was formed and
the structures and processes established for its operation. We call for the
abolition of the RWA and the repeal of the legislation that forms and empowers
the RWA.

The
experience of the first two years of operation of the RWA confirm that this is
nothing more than a devices to advance the privatization and corporate‑profit first
agenda.

The
Socialist Alliance believes that all development projects, big or small, should
be fully subject to public scrutiny, democratic control and regulation in the
interest of the community and the environment.

All major
development projects should be under the control of the public and their
governing boards should be:

Elected by the community;

Accountable to the public;

Subject to recall by the electorate; and

Provision should be made for major issues to be
submitted to community‑initiated referenda.

Socialist Alliance candidates are
not running on the promise that if we are elected we will simply do better than
the incumbents in parliament. This is because we believe that the present
political system is totally corrupted by powerful corporate interests.

Any
Socialist Alliance candidate elected will instead use that office as a
political platform from which to work with other community activists to
mobilise a broad community movement for a radical extension of direct democracy
and a total reversal of the dominant corporate profits‑first political
orthodoxy.

Socialist Alliance candidates will
live on an average worker’s wage and donate the rest of their parliamentary
salary towards the building of a community‑based movement to advance these aims.

The Redfern
Waterloo Authority

The
Socialist Alliance
campaigns for the abolition of the Redfern Waterloo Authority (RWA) and the
repeal of the legislation that forms and empowers it. If we are forced to live
with the existence of the RWA, we would press for the subjugation of any RWA
plans to full scrutiny and regulation by local councils and other regularity
authorities charged with protecting community and environmental interests.

Any major
development project should be charged with the responsibility to develop plans
for associated community advancement, heritage and environmental protection.
Therefore, if the RWA continues, we would press for the development of all such
plans in full cooperation with individuals and institutions working on these
issues at the local and state level, and for these plans and regular
assessments of their implementation to be subject to public scrutiny.

The Minister
for Redfern Waterloo

The
Socialist Alliance
opposes the formation of the RWA and therefore would push for the abolition of
the position of a separate minister for RW.

The present
minister, Frank Sartor, has demonstrated the emptiness of his promises of
community consultation. If we have to live with a minister for RW, we would
push for the minister to be subject to accountability at regular public
meetings and for him to table regular written reports on his work.

The three
government‑appointed Ministerial Advisory Committees are a farce and should be
replaced with an elected, recallable and publicly accountable board of
management.

Funding for
Redfern Waterloo

The
Socialist Alliance
opposes any sale of government land in RW as a method of funding government
initiatives in RW. We believe that all public infrastructure should be financed
from public revenue and through long‑term public borrowing.

The
Socialist Alliance
rejects the current government view that existing unmet human service needs in
RW can be addressed by reforming current human services without any additional
government funding. Rather than cutbacks, we need more investment in social
services and these should be met by sharply steepening progressive taxation.

The
Socialist Alliance
supports increased human services funding for services in RW to meet the higher
needs of new public housing tenants.

The early
intervention strategies which have been advanced in the RWA’s plans cannot be
met while maintaining existing human services in RW without an appropriate
increase in funding.

The
Socialist Alliance
advocates that sufficient government funds to be made available to ensure
suitable accommodation for government‑funded human services in RW currently
operating from substandard premises.

Transparency
and Community Engagement

As mentioned
above, the Socialist Alliance
believes that all development projects, big or small, should be fully subject
to public scrutiny, democratic control and regulation in the interest of the
community and the environment.

All major
development projects should be under the control of the public and their
governing boards should be:

Elected by the community;

Accountable to the public;

Subject to recall by the electorate; and

Provision should be made for major issues to be submitted to community‑initiated
referenda.

Therefore,
Socialist Alliance
calls for direct community participation (through direct democracy, not just
“consultation”) in the development, finalisation, implementation and ongoing evaluation
of any plan for RW.

We are
committed to fighting for a future for RW in which the most marginalised will
have a place in the RW of tomorrow, and not just those who can afford to live
in a gentrified inner city of the future.

Further, I
am committed to using my campaigning efforts (that will extend beyond
elections) and any office I may be elected to as political platforms from which
to work with other community activists to mobilise a broad community movement
for a radical extension of direct democracy and a total reversal of the
dominant corporate profits‑first political orthodoxy.

Questions on
the RWA Plans

Socialist Alliance opposes the
advancement of an 18‑story “commercial core” in Redfern. This will help turn
Redfern over to big commercial interests and increase the marginalisation of
the poorest in the inner city.

We would
support a plan to assist the Redfern community develop cooperatives and other
enterprises under their control. Such a plan should also include quality public
housing.

The
Socialist Alliance opposes the sales of parts of
North Eveleigh to fund the redevelopment of
Redfern Station. The notion that it necessary to privatise public assets to
preserve other public utilities is dead wrong. It is a refrain the NSW state
Labor government repeats ad nauseum, and it is driven by the close relationship
between the state government and its developer mates. There would be enough
money to pay for the needed station upgrade in the state budget if there was
some redirection on spending. For instance, the state government subsidies to
tollway companies and other big companies seeking to privatise public utilities
should end.

We would
support proposals to lessen the impact of main roads in the area surrounding
inner city stations, including Redfern, but we are opposed to using this as a
justification of public‑private partnership (PPP) system, now clearly exposed
as a way of privatising public assets, and handing public monies to the private
sector. Making RW development yet another disastrous PPP ‑ like the airport
link and the cross‑city tunnel ‑ must not be supported on the basis of promises
of a little extra funding for traffic amelioration.

Socialist Alliance believes that
the cost of reducing the impact of main roads on the communities should be met
by the RTA and the state budget. PPPs are not a funding solution to this
problem as Sydney
residents have learnt at great cost.

Socialist
Alliance is calling for free and extended public transport because we believe
that it will not only have enormous health benefits, it will reduce greenhouse
gas pollution and ease congestion on Sydney’s
roads. The experience during the Olympic games in Sydney, where public transport was briefly
free in the city, was a demonstration of the benefits of a free public
transport. Pollution levels dropped, road rage did too and commuters had smiles
on their faces! There would also likely to be a significant financial gain –
including spending on health care – from such a step. (See Socialist Alliance Environment
Policy attached)

Socialist Alliance opposes the
government’s reduction of residential floor space on The Block. It should be
increased to cater for homeless residents in the inner city.

Socialist Alliance opposes the 12‑story
zoning over the area currently occupied by the Large Erecting Shop and support
some continued active heritage rail and associated tourism use of the Large
Erecting Shop. Eveleigh would be better used as a community
heritage/cultural/educational centre.

Socialist Alliance supports the
inclusion of an interpretive tourist link of the heritage sites listed in the
RWA’s gazetted heritage map to showcase the earlier use of the site and people
who worked at Eveleigh.

Socialist Alliance does not support
the sale of the former Rachel Foster site to pay for a new community health
centre in the former court house and police station. As above, we believe that
the question of where the money comes from relates to the question of budget
priorities. Our priority would be to meet the community’s needs, not the
developers.

Socialist
Alliance believes that with proper planning – housing, education and employment
and services – the fact that population densities are increasing in the inner
city would not be a problem. The erosion of the public amenities only comes as
governments refuse to spend funds on their upkeep. We would be campaigning for
this to take place, and for the costs to be met from public revenue, from
steeper progressive taxation and if necessary through long‑term public
borrowing.

Socialist Alliance support the
under grounding of all cabling in redevelopment areas and the provision of
infrastructure for high speed internet for new and existing residents.

Socialist Alliance supports the
idea that developers ensure construction is environmentally sustainable with
respect to electricity usage for lighting/climate control, storm water re‑usage.
We also support the upgrade of services infrastructure, electricity, water
supply and sewage, to cope with the increase demand caused by the higher
population densities, and for developers to contribute into a repair fund
against building work that could potentially alter ground and ground water
levels damaging surrounding existing structures.

Public
Housing (To be covered in BEP Stage 2)

Socialist Alliance believes that public housing should be massively
extended (see Socialist Alliance
Housing Policy attached). Housing (and urban development) in NSW is a mess that
can only begin to be solved by boosting public, community and cooperative
(social) housing—not only as welfare housing but as a real alternative to the
private housing market.

We live in a
wealthy society. There is no excuse for tolerating homelessness or sky‑high
mortgage repayments and rents.

We advocate
a large‑scale building program to make good quality, energy efficient,
affordable public housing the aim being to eliminate the 200,000 housing
shortfall in 10 years (this would roughly mean building one new public,
cooperative or community house for every two private houses over this period).
We also advocate the creation of more social housing for rent by introducing
legislation compelling construction companies to build one new home for rent
for every ten new homes built for sale. This would provide around 4000 new
homes for rent each year.

The service
needs and social impacts of public housing estates being made up of higher
needs tenants must be met with state‑funded increases in appropriate services
and mandatory affirmative action education, training and employment polices
imposed on government and all large private businesses.

The
Socialist Alliance wants to see the number of public housing units sharply
increased and public housing extended beyond “welfare housing” to a more broadly
available public housing that steadily replaces the private housing market
which is increasingly unaffordable and inaccessible for most of the population.

The
Socialist Alliance
therefore opposes the current government position of reducing the proportion of
the population in public housing in RW by doubling the RW population while
maintaining the same number of public tenants. We totally oppose public private
partnership redevelopment of existing public housing.

Affordable
Housing (To be covered in BEP Stage 2)

In line with
the Socialist Alliance’s
policy of a radical extension of public housing beyond so‑called “welfare
housing”, we support affordable housing being developed in RW within the
framework of public ownership and services.

Therefore,
the Socialist Alliance considers opposes any reliance on PP “funding” to
develop public housing and supports public housing – like public health and
education – becoming a universal right.

Human
Services Plan

The
government has a duty to address the issues in relation to RW’s large and
increasing elderly population. Services at stretching point need to be rapidly
expanded and this should include the establishment of a residential facility
for elderly for whom independent living is no longer an option. The cost should
be met from public revenue.

To address
both the crisis and long‑term health needs of drug users in the area, as well
as the social disruption and crime associated with the drug trade in the area,
society needs to take immediate harm minimisation measures as well as address
the underlying social problems. Central to this should be the affirmative
action programs targeting the most oppressed sectors of our society, including
the Indigenous community.

Alcohol‑related
street and domestic violence issues have to be addressed in the same area as
other substance abuse problems, i.e. with immediate harm minimization measures
as well as steps to address the underlying social problems. The Socialist Alliance supports the
establishment of more wet centres and safe injecting rooms and increased
funding for culturally specific drug and alcohol detox facilities.

The
treatment of people with mental health or dual diagnosis issues is one of the
most shameful aspects of 21st century Australian society. This is a direct
result of years of cutbacks in services and also a symptom of the growing
alienation from society that a large number of people now experience.

To address
this, governments at all levels must turn away from the so‑called “free market”
approach that has dominated government policy for too long. The former British
Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher epitomised the social vandalism at the heart
of this approach with the declaration that “there is no society, only
individuals”. Under this slogan community has been subjected to the most brutal
and sustained assault imaginable. We urgently need to rebuild community.

Employment
and Enterprise
Plan

Current
private‑market oriented employment and “enterprise” services are a failure and
in many cases nothing more that a rort for private profit‑makers. The so‑called
improved job market is a mirage to the worst off sections of our society. As
Adele Horin reported in the February 26, 2007 issue of the Sydney Morning
Herald:

“The economic
boom has failed to improve the lives of tens of thousands of Australians,
leaving them locked into communities of deep disadvantage…

“Some
communities identified as disadvantaged 30 years ago are still deprived as jobs
growth alone has been unable to solve decades of deprivation and governments
have not implemented long‑term strategies, a study shows.”

The
Socialist Alliance
argues that it is time to abandon this ineffectual adaptation to the extreme
right wing, neo‑liberal ideological orthodoxy in the traditional governing
parties. To make any serious impact n this “deep disadvantage” we need to break
with this discredited approach and adopt a people and environment‑first not a
profit‑first approach.